ICANN announces hundreds of new web address suffixes

ICANN today announced that hundreds of new web address suffixes will be added later this year, claiming it will be the largest growth since the 1980s.

The first of the new suffixes will be released mid-year and will be for Chinese and other languages other than English. Shortly afterwards, suffixes for brand names and regions such as .cadillac and .quebec will be released along with general suffixes such as .vacation and .like.

According to the report in the Associated Press, "ICANN is overseeing the largest expansion of the Internet address system since its creation in the 1980s. Last year, nearly 2,000 businesses and groups submitted bids for about 1,400 different names. Proponents of the new suffixes are hoping the expansion will lead to online neighborhoods of businesses and groups around specific geographic areas or industries. And with easy-to-remember ".com" names long taken, they hope to offer Internet newcomers more choices."

From 26 March, 2013, businesses and trademark holders can protect certain names for an annual fee of around $150.

"Trademark holders will have a chance to register names ending in one of the new suffixes before registration opens to the general public. If a company chooses not to register the name right away, the Trademark Clearinghouse will notify the company when someone else tries to do so. The system, however, will not block that name from going through, and parties must work out disputes themselves, such as through arbitration," reports the Associated Press.